[nabs-l] Blindness vs. Other Minority Groups

[Lea williams]

hey how did you teach your dog to stop when people grab hold of you? I
want to teach that one to mine when I get one. Great idea thanks.

On 11/7/11, Julie McGinnity <kaybaycar at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all.
>
> I know this was mentioned a bit in previous messages, but I think the
> big difference is the fact that sighted people believe that we are
> always in need of help.  They take it as a matter of course that we
> are helpless and can't do whatever it is by ourselves.  Now I am
> speaking generally; I do not mean all sighted people.
>
> I don't believe that other minority groups deal with this problem.
> White people don't try to help African Americans with simple tasks
> without asking them if they need it as sighted people often do to the
> blind.  When blind people refuse help or get annoyed when they are
> treated differently, then the sighted people are offended when the
> blind speak and advocate for themselves.
>
> I actually think that educating complete strangers is easier than
> educating people I know.  I have been called angry and prideful
> because I refuse to allow people to grab my arm and propell me along,
> and I get very frustrated with people who will not talk to me in favor
> of speaking to my sighted friends.  It was said to me by a friend that
> I should just deal with it and accept the help because it is easier
> that way.  I don't even know if this person even understood how
> offensive that comment was to me.
>
> When I am in the middle of a situation where in I have to educate
> someone, I try to handle it with firm politeness.  It helps to keep a
> smile in place and explain it as though these things happen all the
> time, which they do.  You can complain and rant to your friends later.
>  :)
>
> The other problem is that there really is a time and a place for
> advocacy and education.  I am a performer, so I must walk on stage.  I
> prefer to do this independently.  I am a singer, and I work with an
> accompanist.  We have been working together for about five years.  She
> knows that I will walk on stage on my own.  This weekend at a singing
> competition I had to work with another accompanist.  This one thought
> it necessary to grab my arm and stop me at my place in front of the
> piano and try to turn me around to face the audience.  I was stuck.  I
> could not give her a speach then and there of course, but I was afraid
> that it would look bad that she was litterally trying to turn me
> around like I didn't know which way to face on my own.
>
> Unfortunately, even when I tried to explain it to her later, she did
> not understand.  I have also taught my guide dog to stop when people
> grab my arm.  This is actually quite fun.  The person trying to pull
> me along will get annoyed and inquire as to why I am not moving.  When
> I explain calmly that my dog stops when people try to guide me because
> it is her job to guide me, and she does not need to compete with
> others, they understand and don't get too offended.
>
> This is a very interesting thread, and I've been enjoying reading
> about all your thoughts and experiences.
>
> On 11/6/11, Jedi <loneblindjedi at samobile.net> wrote:
>> Chris,
>>
>> People of Color have had to deal with misconceptions about their
>> capabilities and still do. For along time, there was a psychological
>> science devoted to explaining how Black people are mentally inferior to
>> White people in order to justify segregation and the prejudice that
>> African Americans face in schools. Lots of White people still think
>> that Blacks are more prone to violence and stealing than Whites. And
>> don't get me started on GLBT: you'd be horrified to learn what they go
>> through. The point is that discrimination and prejudice, as well as
>> misconceptions about their cabilities and characteristics, are alive
>> and well; people have just gotten a lot better at hiding their negative
>> judgments. And as to the disabled populus, I think the reason why
>> people don't hide their prejudices is because they don't associate that
>> kind of prejudice with hatred, a certainly undesireable attitude
>> socially speaking.
>>
>> Respectfully,
>> Jedi
>>
>> Original message:
>>> Hi Arielle,
>>
>>> You raise some good points here, and I hope this starts a good
>>> discussion; one that I believe is good to have.  In my opinion,
>>> the difference between the public's stereotyping and
>>> discrimination of blind people and that of other minority groups
>>> is this: blind people have to deal with more misconceptions about
>>> us.  In other words, there are still widely-held misconceptions
>>> about us and what we can and cannot do, which are held by the
>>> public as being true.  This, of course, is a generalisation; not
>>> all of the public believes these misconceptions to be true,
>>> especially those members of the public who work directly with us
>>> or are friends or relatives of a blind person; those who know
>>> from experience what blind people can do.  It seems to me that
>>> these misconceptions are passed down through the generations;
>>> from one generation to their children, then passed on to those
>>> children's children, then to their children, and to their
>>> children, and so on.  When these beliefs are taught for a long
>>> time and are handed down through the generations, it becomes
>>> easier for people to believe them and they mostly do.  These
>>> misconceptions, which are widely believed by a vast majority of
>>> the public, are the beliefs from which the stereotyping and
>>> discrimination stem.  Then, the misconceptions of the public
>>> directly effect us, as we then become the object of
>>> discrimination and stereotypes.  To me, other minority groups
>>> don't have this problem.  Take the African-Americans for example.
>>> Are there any widely-held misconceptions about what they can do
>>> and how successful they can be? No! Are there any doubts as to
>>> their ability to compete on terms of equality with their white
>>> piers? No! Are their any questions about their ability to be
>>> employed? No! Even during the segregation era, this group was not
>>> discriminated against for the reason that there were
>>> misconceptions held by the white that they couldn't be on terms
>>> of equality with everybody else in society, but for the simple
>>> reason that they were different! During this time, I think the
>>> majority, the white population, forgot the undisputed fact that
>>> all people are different, and that having a different skin color
>>> doesn't justify looking down on a person.  The beliefs about
>>> blind people which make people discriminate against us are of a
>>> different character than the beliefs which make people
>>> discriminate against other minorities.  The difference is that
>>> the beliefs about blindness which cause discrimination against us
>>> to happen are stemmed from a lack of education about the truth
>>> about blindness, whereas the beliefs which make people
>>> discriminate against other minorities (I'm talking about
>>> minorities based on skin color, religion, political beliefs,
>>> sexual orientation, etc.) are just based on relatively untrue
>>> stereotypes and thoughts.  Therefore, people who might stereotype
>>> or discriminate against us wouldn't tolerate discrimination based
>>> on race, religion, etc, because the times have changed and the
>>> misconceptions and discrimination have no justification
>>> whatsoever, nor are even legal, in the case of outright
>>> discrimination.  However, they would stereotype about us because
>>> they don't have the education about blindness to see the fact
>>> that these stereotypes aren't justified either.  For this reason,
>>> we have organizations such as the Federation to educate and
>>> advocate.  We have a special responsibility, in my opinion, that
>>> many other minority groups don't have; to educate the public.  We
>>> have to make sure everybody knows what blind people really can do
>>> and prove that we can compete on terms of equality with our
>>> sighted piers.  Other minority groups have proven this already,
>>> and the little discrimination that still exists is generally
>>> thought to be ridiculous and baseless.  However, the public
>>> doesn't think of discrimination against the blind that way,
>>> simply because they don't think it's discrimination! They're OK
>>> with it, because they aren't educated.  So, it is our job to
>>> educate them! I should also say that we also need to educate by
>>> example, meaning that we must not discriminate or stereotype
>>> against other people.  Those are my thoughts.
>>
>>> Chris
>>
>>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com
>>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> Date sent: Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:09:24 -0600
>>> Subject: [nabs-l] Blindness vs.  Other Minority Groups
>>
>>> Warning-this topic has the potential to start a heated debate,
>>> but I
>>> also think it is an interesting and important topic for us as
>>> blind
>>> people to think about.
>>> Lately I have been thinking a lot about how the problems faced by
>>> the
>>> blind are similar to or different from those faced by other
>>> minority
>>> groups in this country historically and in the present.  More
>>> than
>>> that, I have been thinking about how the general public sees us
>>> as a
>>> group in comparison to how they view other minority groups.  It
>>> has
>>> struck me that oftentimes members of the general public treat us
>>> in
>>> discriminatory ways or stereotype us without even considering
>>> that
>>> this kind of treatment resembles stereotyping and discrimination
>>> against other minority groups.
>>> Let me give a concrete example.  In his book Freedom for the
>>> Blind, Jim
>>> Omvig writes of a time when he was directing a training center
>>> and a
>>> female staff member at the center commented, "You do your job so
>>> well,
>>> sometimes I forget you're blind!" Seeing the teachable moment,
>>> Mr.
>>> Omvig brought up this incident to his students during a
>>> philosophy
>>> class, and to illustrate his point he said to the woman, "You are
>>> such
>>> a good teacher, sometimes I forget you're a woman!" From what I
>>> recall, the staff member got a bit upset and insisted that "no,
>>> what I
>>> said about you being blind was very different from what you said
>>> about
>>> my being a woman.  I was just trying to give you a compliment!"
>>> Now, as blind people most of us understand the problem with her
>>> comment-the implication that being blind must not be very good,
>>> so
>>> someone who does a good job isn't like other blind people.  To me
>>> this
>>> sounds like the same problem as making the analogous comment to a
>>> woman-but she didn't see it that way.  Why not? Is there a
>>> difference
>>> here?
>>> I have often been quite frustrated when people I know and
>>> trust-friends or family members, who have very liberal views
>>> about
>>> race, would never utter a racial slur or support discrimination
>>> against racial minorities, women, gays etc.  who nonetheless have
>>> no
>>> qualms about saying negative things about blindness.  Like saying
>>> blind
>>> people are all worse than the sighted at something, or that blind
>>> people are more dependent or less successful than the sighted,
>>> etc.
>>> They will sometimes say these things to my face and don't
>>> understand
>>> why I don't like to hear these things.  Sometimes family members
>>> will
>>> make comments comparing me favorably to other blind people.  They
>>> think
>>> they are giving me compliments, and fail to understand that I
>>> don't
>>> want to hear negative things spoken about the blind as a
>>> collective.
>>> Yet these same people would never tell an African American that
>>> they
>>> are "smart for a black person" etc.  I remember during the
>>> protests
>>> against the Blindness film in 2008, I was perplexed by how many
>>> people
>>> just didn't get it, and didn't see what harm the film could
>>> do-and yet
>>> an analogous film where everyone developed black skin or female
>>> anatomy with such dire consequences would never be accepted in
>>> our
>>> modern society.  And finally, in my research, I have observed
>>> that the
>>> college students in my experiments have no problem saying on a
>>> survey
>>> that the blind are much less competent than the sighted, yet
>>> would
>>> never say such things directly about another minority group-in
>>> fact,
>>> lots of fancy indirect measures have been developed to tap those
>>> attitudes because people nowadays are so unwilling to admit their
>>> prejudices, unless it's toward the blind.
>>> So, what's up? Are stereotypes about the blind somehow more
>>> accurate
>>> than stereotypes about ethnic minorities? Is discrimination
>>> against
>>> the blind somehow more justified? Or is it just that we are such
>>> a
>>> small group that we haven't developed the same history, had the
>>> same
>>> scale of civil rights activism, etc.  to raise people's
>>> awareness? Do
>>> you guys think we deserve the same considerations as other
>>> minorities
>>> in this country? If not, am I missing something? If so, how do we
>>> get
>>> members of the public to see this?
>>> Also, as an aside, I'm curious to hear from those of you who are
>>> "dual
>>> minorities" being both blind and a member of a minority group in
>>> this
>>> country (ethnicity-wise, or a different group like GLBT, uncommon
>>> religious beliefs etc.) How do you think your two identities are
>>> similar? Different? Do you feel they interact with one another?
>>> I look forward to the discussion.
>>> Best,
>>> Arielle
>>
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>
>
> --
> Julie McG
>  Lindbergh High School class of 2009, participating member in Opera
> Theater's Artist in Training Program, and proud graduate of Guiding
> Eyes for the Blind
>
> "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
> everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
> life."
> John 3:16
>
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-- 
Lea Williams

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